Broccoli is Manmade
November 12, 2010 at 1:00 am Chad Upton 2 comments
By Chad Upton | Editor
The word broccoli is the plural form of broccolo (Italian), which refers to “the flowering top of cabbage.” Of course, that’s because Broccoli is from the same family as cabbage. Kale, closely related to wild cabbage, was carefully bred into a variety of vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower over a period of 2000 years.
Broccoli is kind of a super vegetable since it contains a ton of lutein, arguably the most important source of vitamin A in the human diet (which is also found in kale and spinach).
So, even if you are genetically predisposed to dislike broccoli, you could try some other popular vegetables in the same family: cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, rapeseed, radish and horseradish.
Broken Secrets
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Photo: Rick Harris (cc)
Sources: Indiana Public Media, Science Daily, Wikipedia (Broccoli, Brassica, Brassicaceae, Cruciferous, Kale, Phenylthiocarbamide)
Entry filed under: Food and Drink, History and Origins. Tags: broccoli, broccolo, cabbage, vegetable.
Broken Secrets 
1.
Betta | August 5, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Er… you got the plural and singular of “broccolo” (sing.) and “broccoli” (plur.) mixed up. Trust me: I live in Italy and I’ve spoken Italian for my whole life.
2.
Chad Upton | August 6, 2011 at 11:11 am
You are correct. I got that from Wikipedia, but upon further investigation you are indeed correct; wikipedia has it wrong.